Tanker captain sentenced to jail after defying U.S. Coast Guard

The captain of the shadow fleet tanker Marinera, formerly Bella 1, has been sentenced to 10 months in prison after refusing U.S. Coast Guard orders to stop. The Maritime Executive reports that a U.S. court issued the sentence on August 7. He will be deported after serving his prison term.

Avtandil Kalandadze, a 47-year-old Georgian national, was captain of the 318,518-dwt tanker from September to December 2025. The vessel was sailing toward Venezuela when the U.S. Coast Guard cutter Munro ordered it to stop. The tanker refused and fled across the Atlantic. During the pursuit, it changed its name to Marinera and claimed Russian registration. U.S. forces seized the vessel on January 7.

The tanker was built by Hyundai Heavy Industries in South Korea in 2000. It changed names and owners several times before becoming Bella 1 in 2023. In 2024, the U.S. sanctioned its registered owner, Louis Marine Shipholding Enterprises, over the transport of sanctioned cargo linked to Hizballah.

U.S. prosecutors said the tanker carried about 1.8 million barrels of Iranian-origin oil to Asia while Kalandadze was captain. They also accused the vessel of using shadow fleet methods, including switching off AIS and hiding its name during a ship-to-ship oil transfer.

Kalandadze was taken from Scotland to the United States in January while legal efforts were underway to stop his removal. He faced up to five years in prison but received a 10-month sentence followed by deportation.

The tanker was later moved to the United States and reportedly sailed under the name Era with the Comoros flag. Equasis now lists Global Marketing Systems as the owner and the vessel as “to be broken up.”

 

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